In a press conference shortly prior to the article's publication, Janša pointed to documents detailing these police plans to secure state institutions to argue that a coup was in fact afoot against his Ministry.
[45] SDS remained in opposition for the next 10 years, except for a brief period in 2000, when it entered a short-lived centre-right government led by Andrej Bajuk,[40][54][55] while gaining popularity among – as described by one of its former supporters, Peter Jambrek – "lower, frustrated social strata".
The measures were strongly rebuked by the opposition and segments of the press as an attempt to discredit the secret intelligence service and cast a negative shadow on the policies of previous governments.
[93] Janša, Finance Minister Bajuk and other government officials pointed to high oil prices and a non-competitive internal food market as the main underlying causes for the inflation.
[100] In the 2011 snap parliamentary election (held on 4 December after the centre-left governing coalition collapsed due to internal conflict and inefficacy in passing meaningful economic reforms), SDS won 26.19% of the vote, gaining 26 seats in the National Assembly, thus making SDS the second-largest parliamentary party after the newly formed centre-left party, Positive Slovenia (PS) (headed by Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković), which won 28 MPs (28.5% of the total).
Despite the momentous reforms efforts, the economic troubles intensified, resulting in increasing levels of unemployment, plunging living standards, a fall in domestic spending, and large budget deficits.
[117] In late 2012, protests began to take place in Slovenia's second largest city, Maribor, against its mayor and SDS ally, Franc Kangler, who was being investigated due to allegations of corruption.
[120][121][122][123][103] In early 2013, the instability and public resentment was compounded after the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption revealed both PM Janez Janša and the leader of the largest opposition party (PS), Zoran Janković, violated anti-corruption laws by failing to report or account for assets in their possession and received income/payments.
[135][128][113] The government finally collapsed after a vote of no confidence, and a PS consensus candidate, Alenka Bratušek, was appointed as PM (despite some protests that continued to demand a snap election).
[168] Despite the concession, the PM post was eventually occupied by the leader of the second largest parliamentary party, Marjan Šarec, who succeeded in forming a centre-left minority government (without the participation of SDS).
"[192] Deutsche Welle has described supporters of the party as "disagree[ing] with the majority of the population on more or less everything, starting with the history of World War II, where they cherish the memory of the German-allied wartime military guard.
[155][197] The party's heated rhetoric and allegations of corrupt practices have led "to concerns among international observers about the direction of Slovenia, which is generally regarded as a regional success story" as SDS topped opinion polls heading into the 2018 parliamentary election.
The guard would replace all current reserve formations of the Slovene armed forces, would be under direct command of the general staff, and would be mobilised during natural disasters or during "altered national security states" (like the European refugee crisis, which was ongoing at the time).
In 2007, Janša stated that "climate change is not only a problem for the government and economy; it is a challenge for the wider society and every individual" during an international conference on the matter, stressing the dangers and opportunities associated with the issue.
[240] SDS argues the current text to the Slovene national anthem—the 7th stanza of France Prešeren's A Toast ("Blessed be all nations/Which yearn to see the light of day/When where'er the Sun doth wander/The lands' strife shall be cast away/And when free every kinsman will be/Not fiends, only neighbours in foreigners we'll see!
[251] Following the US targeted killing of Iranian gen. Qasem Soleimani, the party released a statement declaring that "SDS supports the strong US response to the provocations of the Ayatollah extremist regime ...
In 2014, the party put out a statement endorsing the Euromaidan protests and the efforts of fellow EPP affiliates therein, condemning human rights abuses by the then-incumbent Ukrainian government of Viktor Yanukovych.
[257] In 2015, SDS accused Miro Cerar's then-incumbent Slovenian government of Russophilia and drifting away from Europe, citing a visit to Slovenia by then-Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev.
[337] Public supporters of the party also include sportsmen Miran Pavlin,[338][339] and Katja Koren,[340][341] pop singer Marta Zore,[342] designer and cartoonist Miki Muster,[343] and actor Roman Končar.
[377] Nova24TV, a media conglomerate consisting of a television channel and online news portal, was established by SDS MPs and members, and party sympathisers, and later also received financial injections from Hungarian Fidesz-affiliated companies.
[401] In 2021, articles published in The New York Times, and in Der Standard described SDS as waging a culture war by trying to shift the country's museums in a more conservative and patriotic direction by appointing like-minded people in leadership positions within the institutions.
[456] After the meeting, the parent company begun to closely monitor POP TV's political reporting to ensure coverage is sufficiently favourable to the SDS-led government, requiring news editors to translate transcripts into Czech and send them to headquarters in Prague.
[456] SDS was reportedly also engineering a sale of the country's largest newspaper Delo to PPF from its domestic owner to also reign in its critical coverage, using lucrative state contracts and benefits as enticements/punishments.
[467] A Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights report published in June 2021 found a deterioration of press freedom in Slovenia and called on the Slovene government to remedy the situation.
[494][495] The organised group of violent agitators that disrupted a major protest in Ljubljana was found to have been trained, hired, and compensated, possibly by a political party, according to a police investigation.
Many close relatives of prominent SDS members have found employment in the Slovenian and European parliaments, high ranking public sector positions, and state-owned companies (some despite not meeting the official job requirements).
[544] After the 2011 parliamentary elections, which saw the victory of Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković (who is of Serbian descent) and his party,[545][546] a contribution published on the official SDS webpage by a "Tomaž Majer" caused considerable public outrage.
[547][548][549][550] Majer states that Janković was elected by "well-disciplined new citizens" living in "high-rise neighbourhoods", tracksuit-clad voters with foreign accents arriving at polling places in groups holding notes with instructions on whom to vote for.
[546][553][554] It has been speculated that the real author of the text was in fact Janez Janša, based on similar known past statements (specifically, his 1993 commentary on the poor electoral performance of SDS during the 1992 elections).
"[556] In 2020, SDS politician Žan Mahnič, a former MP then serving as national security state secretary, shared a tweet of an image of white-skinned women with different hair colours accompanied with the comment "This is all the diversity Europe needs."